Plastic Litter Transect Surveys in Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, July 2023

July 2023 data from 40 transect surveys covering rural, urban, and protected areas on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos. The dataset, collected for a NERC-funded project, includes litter counts, weights, polymer types, and location characteristics for each 200m2 survey area. Data were analyzed at the University of Exeter laboratory to explore inland plastic waste reduction.

Use Cases

• Mapping plastic pollution density based on location information and transect characteristics.
• Analyzing litter composition based on polymer type, color, and texture data.
• Modeling waste generation patterns based on data on human movement mentioned in the description.
• Assessing the effectiveness of protected areas based on litter counts from different land-use zones.

Strengths

• Data collected from 40 standardized transects, each covering 200m2.
• Includes multiple litter attributes: number, weight, category, polymer type, color, and texture.
• Surveys conducted across three distinct area types: rural, urban, and protected.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Field collection via transect surveys, with subsequent laboratory analysis.

Time Range

Data collected between 8 and 18 July 2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-21 14:11:14.791535; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos.